Continuous preparation of stable oil-in-water emulsions by secondary membrane emulsification without surfactants

doi:10.1016/j.cjche.2025.04.023

中国化学工程学报 ›› 2025, Vol. 87 ›› Issue (11): 288-298.DOI: 10.1016/j.cjche.2025.04.023

Continuous preparation of stable oil-in-water emulsions by secondary membrane emulsification without surfactants

Changhai Fan¹, Jingcheng Li¹, Zhengyan Qu¹, Zhenchen Tang^1,2, Jiuxuan Zhang¹, Hong Jiang¹, Weihong Xing^1,2, Rizhi Chen^1,2

1. State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 210009, China;
2. Suzhou Laboratory, Suzhou 215000, China

收稿日期:2025-02-21 修回日期:2025-04-25 接受日期:2025-04-28 出版日期:2025-11-28 发布日期:2025-07-04
通讯作者: Hong Jiang,E-mail:hjiang@njtech.edu.cn;Rizhi Chen,E-mail:rizhichen@njtech.edu.cn
基金资助:
Financial support from the National Key Research and Development Program (2024YFA1510003), the National Natural Science Foundation (U24B20197, 22278209, U23A20117, 22178165, 22208149), the Jiangsu Province Natural Science Foundation (BK20220354), and the State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering (SKL-MCE-23A11) of China are gratefully acknowledged.

Continuous preparation of stable oil-in-water emulsions by secondary membrane emulsification without surfactants

Changhai Fan¹, Jingcheng Li¹, Zhengyan Qu¹, Zhenchen Tang^1,2, Jiuxuan Zhang¹, Hong Jiang¹, Weihong Xing^1,2, Rizhi Chen^1,2

1. State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 210009, China;
2. Suzhou Laboratory, Suzhou 215000, China

Received:2025-02-21 Revised:2025-04-25 Accepted:2025-04-28 Online:2025-11-28 Published:2025-07-04
Contact: Hong Jiang,E-mail:hjiang@njtech.edu.cn;Rizhi Chen,E-mail:rizhichen@njtech.edu.cn
Supported by:
Financial support from the National Key Research and Development Program (2024YFA1510003), the National Natural Science Foundation (U24B20197, 22278209, U23A20117, 22178165, 22208149), the Jiangsu Province Natural Science Foundation (BK20220354), and the State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering (SKL-MCE-23A11) of China are gratefully acknowledged.

摘要/Abstract

摘要： Emulsions are widely used across various industries but often require surfactants for stabilization, leading to complex product formulations and environmental concerns. Continuous preparation of stable emulsions without surfactants is still a significant challenge. Herein, a secondary membrane emulsification system was developed to produce stable oil-in-water emulsions under surfactant-free conditions, where the first membrane module employed the cross-flow membrane emulsification to generate the primary emulsion, while the second membrane module employed the premix membrane emulsification to further reduce the droplet size, thereby improving the emulsion stability. The morphology and droplet size of the secondary emulsion significantly depend on the membrane pore size, membrane surface wettability, primary emulsion flow, and primary emulsion quality. The secondary membrane emulsification system demonstrates excellent operational stability over 12 h, with no obvious changes in the emulsion characteristics. The prepared secondary emulsion remains relatively stable up to 10 min without surfactants, significantly superior to the primary emulsion. Furthermore, the developed system successfully produces the Janus emulsion with homogeneous internal phase morphology. This research provides an effective approach for the continuous preparation of stable emulsions without surfactants.

关键词: Emulsions, Surfactant-free, Secondary membrane emulsification, Membranes, Janus emulsion

Abstract: Emulsions are widely used across various industries but often require surfactants for stabilization, leading to complex product formulations and environmental concerns. Continuous preparation of stable emulsions without surfactants is still a significant challenge. Herein, a secondary membrane emulsification system was developed to produce stable oil-in-water emulsions under surfactant-free conditions, where the first membrane module employed the cross-flow membrane emulsification to generate the primary emulsion, while the second membrane module employed the premix membrane emulsification to further reduce the droplet size, thereby improving the emulsion stability. The morphology and droplet size of the secondary emulsion significantly depend on the membrane pore size, membrane surface wettability, primary emulsion flow, and primary emulsion quality. The secondary membrane emulsification system demonstrates excellent operational stability over 12 h, with no obvious changes in the emulsion characteristics. The prepared secondary emulsion remains relatively stable up to 10 min without surfactants, significantly superior to the primary emulsion. Furthermore, the developed system successfully produces the Janus emulsion with homogeneous internal phase morphology. This research provides an effective approach for the continuous preparation of stable emulsions without surfactants.

Key words: Emulsions, Surfactant-free, Secondary membrane emulsification, Membranes, Janus emulsion

Changhai Fan, Jingcheng Li, Zhengyan Qu, Zhenchen Tang, Jiuxuan Zhang, Hong Jiang, Weihong Xing, Rizhi Chen. Continuous preparation of stable oil-in-water emulsions by secondary membrane emulsification without surfactants[J]. 中国化学工程学报, 2025, 87(11): 288-298.

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Continuous preparation of stable oil-in-water emulsions by secondary membrane emulsification without surfactants

Continuous preparation of stable oil-in-water emulsions by secondary membrane emulsification without surfactants

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